Reasons
by omurice
Summary: Oneshot [NejiTenten] He knows exactly why he loves her.


_Author's Note: This is actually the first Neji/Tenten fic I'd done a while back and I just found it in my recycle bin. I was really conflicted as to whether or not I should post it because I'm not exactly in love with how it turned out but I figured I might as well._

_Neji and Tenten are older here, probably around 18._

_Disclaimer: I don't own any characters for Naruto_

**Reasons**

People say that there are no reasons for love and if it's true love, you love without knowing why.

They're wrong.

He knows exactly why he loves Tenten.

It wasn't love at first sight or even lust. It was a mutual respect and silent understanding that marked their beginning. But over the years spent together, among the sweat and blood, the hours of aching muscles and wondering if they would live to see home, he has found his reasons.

_Neji loves her eyes. _

Anyone else would say that she has brown eyes, but he has memorized every slight shift in hue and what each shade means. When she's angry they darken to a bristling mink, fairly crackling with rage. Her enemies are dead before they can notice, but his eyes have seen the gleam beneath her bangs.

When they are together he notes her happiness by the sparkling terra-cotta of her eyes, the way they practically exude a light.

Determination is marked by the quiet glare of mahogany, sadness by a somber chestnut- a color he hates to see.

When she kisses him her eyes are a smoldering sierra- a color only he has seen.

_Neji loves her hands._

Neji knows the strength behind those deceptively delicate hands.

They have felled countless enemies, and he has seen them wield weapons with deadly accuracy. He has memorized every callous on the pads of her fingertips, every scar on her palms and the way her hands never hesitate in battle, always determined and sure. His favorite finger is her left pinky, slightly crooked from being broken in their genin years and not healing correctly.

Nowadays he has become quite familiar with the way she likes to run her hands through his hair when they are lying in bed, tugging at the ends and combing out the knots.

_Neji loves her name._

Gai and Lee often tell Tenten her name is like the ringing of bells, and Neji just smirks because he knows that's wrong too. Her name is the sound of kunai clashing in midair, swords meeting with a ring of steel. When he whispers her name, it's the name of a kunoichi, a warrior, a woman to be reckoned with.

_Neji loves her hair._

He can still remember the first time that he saw her let her hair down. It was during one of their missions as chunin and he had accidentally stumbled across her preparing to bathe in a small stream. She hadn't undressed yet, but she stood there in moonlight with her back to him, releasing her locks from their confining buns. His mouth had gone dry at the sight of those chocolate tresses falling down her back and Tenten running her fingers through them, rubbing her aching scalp with a soft moan.

Now he loves undoing those buns himself, letting his hands run through her soft, strong hair, twisting the ends around his fingers affectionately.

_Neji loves her scent._

Her scent is unmistakable and he can't help but be ever aware of it. Even when they were training together as young shinobi, covered in sweat and dust and humid air, he could pick up her smell. Even in the midst of battle, among the sharp coppery tang of blood, he somehow finds that she still smells beautiful.

Tenten doesn't smell like metal or weapons as some might guess. She smells of lemongrass and dogwood, clarifying and strengthening. He always breathes in deeply when she is near, taking it in and marveling at how lovely it is.

_Neji loves her strength._

She has never been weak, as a woman or a ninja.

He had always been defense and she had always attacked, two halves of a deadly sport. Her dragons versus his Kaiten, her accuracy against his all seeing Byakugan.

Somehow, she has managed to break through his carefully built walls, to crumble his defenses and find him as only she could have done.

Hers is a strength that he does not possess, one that he admires.

He has spent years finding love in her eyes, her hands, her name, her hair, her scent and her strength and yet he feels there are so many more reasons why he calls this kunoichi his own. Neji knows that there are always reasons for love, it is just a matter of discovering them. And everyday, in the way she tilts her head up to look at him, the way she bites her lip in concentration, the way she says his name or the way her lashes brush against her cheeks in sleep, he finds another reason to love her.

END

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Thanks for reading and reviews are always welcome! 


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